A key ally of DR Congo's President Joseph Kabila is trapped in an armed stand-off ahead of Sunday's election, according to UN sources. Nzanga Mobutu, son of late Congolese ruler Mobutu Sese Seko, was campaigning on behalf of President Kabila in Gbadolite, in the north of the country.

Former rebel leader and presidential candidate in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jean-Pierre Bemba, has canceled a stadium rally, following violence in the capital city, Kinshasa. He is facing current president, Joseph Kabila, in Sunday's run-off election.

Prisoners and guards clashed in a Congolese prison Thursday, one day after a group of inmates escaped from the facility.
The prison director says at least nine inmates were injured, three of them seriously, as guards moved to quell a riot at the prison in Congo's capital Kinshasa.

The U.N. mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo is urging rival candidates to denounce violence and promote discipline ahead of a runoff presidential vote October 29. Campaigning has been marked by the public absence of the two candidates and recurrent clashes between rival supporters.

The MONUC 'Kisangani without arms' objective, which was launched on Friday October 13 2006, has been a success to date, as the amount of unauthorised men with arms circulating the city has been drastically reduced, according to Kisangani force commander Col. Edouard Mbengue.

The European Union plans to bring more peacekeeping troops to Kinshasa ahead of Congo's upcoming presidential run-off election.A spokesman for the EU peacekeeping force in Congo, Thierry Fusalba, says about 200 German and Dutch soldiers will be moved in from Gabon and deployed next week.

In an unprecedented move, a Congolese military judge has recommended the prosecution of three former Anvil Mining employees for complicity in war crimes and of Colonel Ademar Ilunga and eight of his subordinates for breaches of the Geneva Convention and its Additional Protocols.

Three days into presidential election campaigns, tensions remain high in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as supporters of candidates Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba burn effigies and stone vehicles involved in the campaigns.